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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27914338">Behind Every Good Man...</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/athersgeo/pseuds/athersgeo'>athersgeo</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>1st Century BCE Roman Politics RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 19:20:39</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>968</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27914338</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/athersgeo/pseuds/athersgeo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Every good plot begins somewhere. For Hortensia, it begins here.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Yuletide Madness 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Behind Every Good Man...</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aeroscope/gifts">Aeroscope</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This was an absolutely fabulous set of prompts that just begged to be written - thank you!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Seeing the shape of things from the small fragments and shards visible was a skill. At times, it was a skill Hortensia wished her father hadn't trained her to have. Times such as these.</p>
<p>She knelt before the small household shrine, head bowed. "Minerva, guide me," she murmured. "Show me the way I should act."</p>
<p>Her husband was dead, thanks to the whims of a general - a general who was, even now, marching upon Rome. She could recall her father's description of Sulla and she could see the same pattern of behaviour in this pompous general. Crossing the Rubicon, as it seemed likely he would, would be the final nail. He sought kingship. He sought power. He needed to be stopped. That much was clear to her.</p>
<p>But how?</p>
<p>"The Cilician Pirates should have killed him when they had the chance," she muttered. But that was old history. Long ago.</p>
<p>What was needed now was action, or if not action, at least a plan.</p>
<p>Still facing the shrine, Hortensia heard the scuff of approaching footsteps and she turned in time to see her late husband's nephew enter. He stopped dead on seeing her and started to back away. "I intrude. I did not mean--"</p>
<p>"Cease." Hortensia held up a hand to cut his babble off. "Your messenger warned me of your arrival; I am prepared to see you, so, speak."</p>
<p>The young man shuffled his feet, clearly unused to being so addressed. "I bring greetings and--"</p>
<p>"Cease!" Hortensia again held her hands up. "I have no desire to hear platitudes and empty phrases. You have a reason for this visit so speak it."</p>
<p>There was more shuffling. Then, "Honoured lady, General Caesar sends you his greetings and wishes you to attend him at his camp outside the city."</p>
<p>Hortensia gave the young man a long, pointed look. "And precisely why should he do that?"</p>
<p>"I...believe he wishes to convey his sympathies to you directly."</p>
<p>"Pah!" Hortensia folded her arms before her chest and glared. "I wish to hear no such thing from a man such as he."</p>
<p>"General Caesar is a great man!" The younger man was clearly stung by such criticism, and that made Hortensia pause.</p>
<p>Her eyes narrowed, even as her husband's nephew puffed up like a fighting cock. "You like him," she said.</p>
<p>"General Caesar is a friend."</p>
<p>"Men like Julius Caesar do not have 'friends', they have 'resources' and once you are used up, you will be discarded. Just as my husband, your uncle, was."</p>
<p>"My uncle--" </p>
<p>Hortensia once more held up a hand, cutting him off. "Yes, yes. I have heard the official story. I do not believe it for one moment. My husband was not a stupid man and yet you would have me believe he ignored a direct order and was killed as a result. You, or Caesar, perhaps, must think me a monumental fool to believe such lies." She lowered her hand and turned away. "My answer is--" Her eyes fell on the shrine in the corner of the room and she stayed her final words. Instead, she tapped pensively against her lip for a moment, considering. Then turned back. "My answer is that as a grieving widow, such a journey is beyond me, but you will convey my thanks and appreciation for General Caesar's kind words."</p>
<p>The young man's jaw hinged open like a surprised carp. "I--"</p>
<p>"You will tell him this," Hortensia said fiercely, cutting through his objections. "And you will do so with the utmost sincerity. You will remain a part of his circle. Close. A friend, even. And you will report to me his plans. His aims. And you will do this in the memory of your uncle who has been so wronged by the great general," and she spat the rank like a curse. "When the time is right, you will strike, though I have little doubt that come that moment you will not strike alone. For a man like Caesar will swiftly create enemies when he cannot continue to deliver success. And be assured, he cannot."</p>
<p>The young man actually swayed back a pace, away from her intensity. "I will not betray my general."</p>
<p>"Oh, you will," said Hortensia with decision. "You will come to see you have no choice. Now go. Deliver my message as I said it, and when he brings the army into Rome - ah!" Hortensia smiled as the young man's expression paled. "I see you hadn't considered that."</p>
<p>"He cannot do such a thing."</p>
<p>"He should not," she corrected. "But he will. His ego will allow for nothing else." She nodded. "When he enters Rome, you will tell me his plans and we shall see, Brutus. We shall see, indeed, what must be done, and when."</p>
<p>The young man, Brutus, stood for a moment in hovering indecision. Then he nodded once. "It shall be done." He bowed, turned smartly on his heel and marched out. It was interesting to note that the footsteps of his departure were considerably more firm than those from his arrival.</p>
<p>That observation made Hortensia smile. Though he might not have expressed them, even to himself, the young man had already held doubts about Caesar's actions. She had merely drawn them out and given them full-form and now things were in motion. True, the plan would take time. Much as she would like to strike him down now, now was not the right moment. Caesar had done nothing. Yet.</p>
<p>But he would. She could see that he would. And now she had the means to stop him.</p>
<p>She turned back to the shrine divine guidance, indeed. She knelt once more and offered up a prayer of thanks. Rome would not be saved in a day, but she would be saved and that was what mattered.</p>
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